Brecken is decidedly vehicle obsessed. One of his favorite birthday presents is this dump truck. He loves to put his smaller trucks in the truck bed and roll them around.

I love this toy because it provides me with long stretches of peace and quiet, AND it’s green!

It’s made by a company called Green Toys. They make toys out of recycled milk cartons. Like many wonderful, green things, they are based in California.

American made. Green. Adorable. What more could you want in a toy?

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Dr. Sonnet Ehlers shows a spiked female condom, whose hooks she says stick on a man during rape.

This is a female condom with spikes inside that stick on an unwelcome penis. It doesn’t break the skin, but it does get tighter if tampered with, and can only be removed by a medical professional.

You can read the full article about it here.

I think this is an interesting little invention. On the one hand, I think it’s great that women have an option to “arm” themselves in a way. Sadly, it doesn’t stop them from being raped in the first place. On the other hand, I worry about the violence a device such as this will encourage the rapist to inflict upon the victim out of anger.

I also wonder about it’s practicality. If you are going somewhere you feel you need to prepare for by inserting an anti-rape device, maybe you should stay home and rent a movie instead. How many women actually have the thought, “I might get raped tonight. Hmmm, better put on the ol’ Rape-aXe!” No one plans to get raped. That narrows the market down to terrified women that must live in constant fear of horrible things, and man-hating fem-Nazis that would love a chance to try one of these bad boys out. (I’m kidding about the man-hating fem-Nazi thing – please, angry man-hating fem-Nazis, don’t flood my inbox with your indignation.)

I can see how something like this might help a woman feel empowered or pro-active. I hope it doesn’t give them a false sense of security. I like that it requires a professional to remove it. I can only imagine the number of mystery penile injuries that will flood emergency rooms if this thing catches on, because you know rapists are going to try to take them off themselves.

If there were some way to monitor its location, it may work as a nifty little chastity belt. Though wouldn’t it be easier to openly communicate with your daughter about sex in the first place? The types of parents that would be interested in a chastity belt are usually too squeamish to talk openly with their teens about sex – let alone enforce the wearing of a female condom.

Well, Dr. Ehlers, I like the way you think. Let’s hope the mere fact that this device exists will encourage would-be rapists to think twice before forcing themselves on someone. After all, you never know who’s wearing one…

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For those of you whom I  like to refer to as my more dedicated stalkers – you know, the ones that have read the “about” page on this here blog – you may recall my claim to have worn a single pair of sneakers for an entire year.

You can imagine a sneaker worthy of such love/abuse would surely have to be comfortable. You would be right!

Behold, the Saucony Cambridge.

Obviously this isn’t a picture of the actual sneakers I wore. My beloved sneakers are considerably the worse for wear, and I will spare you a current photo of them, so we may remember them the way they were. They would want it that way.

I had thought Saucony had decided to stop making the Cambridge style of shoe. I was greatly disheartened, and drowned my sorrows in a large chocolate milkshake or seven. Sighing dramatically, I begrudgingly bought a pair of Pumas. To be fair, the Pumas did a pretty good job of being my regularly abused shoe, but they lacked the staying power of my beloved Sauconys.

Imagine my delight at finding the Cambridge still in production! Not only did I immediately buy two pair, (God I love knowing a shoe so well, you can buy it over THE INTERNET and KNOW it will fit!!) I also bought a pair from their vegan line. So far, so good! They are comfy and cruelty free. Win win.

Nothing makes this girl’s wide, cumbersome feetsies happier than a pair of their favorite sneakers.

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I try to buy all of my eggs from local farmers at the farmer’s market. If I can’t get them at the farmer’s market, I buy certified humane eggs from natural food markets. They are not cheap. Knowing the eggs I’m feeding my family came from healthy, happy chickens, makes them more than worth the cost.

Humane eggs cost anywhere from 33¢ to 50¢ each. Factory farm eggs run around 18¢ an egg. That’s quite a difference.

95% of all eggs sold in American supermarkets come from factory farms. Factory farms treat chickens like commodities, rather than living creatures. The chickens have their beaks cut off, and are forced to live out their entire lives in a battery cage. Battery cages are smaller than a sheet of note book paper. They stack them on top of each other, row upon row, the chickens on top pooping on the chickens below.

Factory farms feed their chickens corn and animal by-products. Animal by-products are all the ground up, nasty parts of cows, and pigs, and  other chickens that the slaughter houses can’t put into hot dogs or nuggets.

By definition: The non-rendered, clean parts, other than meat, derived from slaughtered mammals. It includes, but is not limited to, lungs, spleen, kidneys, brain, livers, blood, bone, partially defatted low temperature fatty tissue, and stomachs and intestines freed of their contents.

Factory farmed chickens are even fed by-products from cattle that can’t be fed to humans due to the possibility of mad cow disease.

Even if you can over look the horrid conditions that factory farmed chickens are forced to endure, do you really want to feed your family eggs born of tortured animals that have been fed diseased by-products? After all, you are what you eat.

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I have serious issues with what I like to call enviro-guilt. One of the biggest dilemmas I faced as a mother was diapering. With my first child I tried g diapers. While I recommend them, and will feature them in an upcoming spotlight, they could be a bit labor intensive at times.

Now, with my second child, I use Bum Genius all-in-ones. They work great, and combined with the diaper liners, clean up is simple. Alas, one can not use cloth diapers exclusively. Well, you can, but sometimes I just prefer the convenience of a disposable. Imagine my delight at finding a compostable disposable diaper!

Now whenever I ‘m going to be running errands, or going on vacation, I don’t have to cringe at every diaper I change, imagining it sitting in a landfill for generations to come. Nature Babycare diapers are a great alternative to traditional disposable diapers. They perform excellently, and cost the same as traditional disposables.

• 100% chlorine free
• slim and shaped to fit the contours of your baby
• natural, ‘breathable’ materials
• no unnecessary chemicals
• hypoallergenic and skin-friendly

You can find out more about Nature Babycare products here. You can see them on facebook here.

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Green Genius garbage bags are biodegradable! Before these babies came on the scene, I used Glad trash bags. Green Genius is just as strong – if not stronger – and I sleep easier at night knowing I’m responsible for that much less plastic in the world.

If you want to know more about the green geniuses behind Green Genius garbage bags, check out their website here. They’ll give you a free sample and a $2.00 coupon!

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